Routine
by Sousukes-Girl
Summary: "He didn't remember how their little routine began, only that it had and that it was now so ingrained in them both, that they went about their business without much thought." Eliot/Parker, Non-Romance. How they take care of each others injuries after a con.


This is a new fandom for me. I usually only do Anime, but I loved this idea and it somehow fit perfectly with Eliot and Parker. I hope they aren't too OCC. This is un-beta'd; please let me know if you would like that job!

No spoilers really, though I make mention of Parker's previous knee injury and the fact that Parker and Hardison are dating.

Standard disclaimer applies: I do not own, this idea just wouldn't leave me alone.

Enjoy!

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He didn't remember how their little routine began, only that it had and that it was now so ingrained in them both, that they went about their business without much thought. It wasn't about romance or soft feelings between the two of them, because each viewed the other more as a sibling than anything else. Hardison was never offended by their actions, always sending Parker off with a hug or a kiss after the Job was complete and they were all safely returned home. The whole crew understood that Parker and Eliot alike needed this time together to set each other to rights.

As soon as the job was over, and they all found themselves in Lucille II or III, or whatever iteration they were on by this point in their lives, Eliot started thinking of the items that would be required when they arrived back at the house, with gauze and pain meds floating through his head.

"Dammit, Hardison!" Eliot grumbled when the van traversed a particularly large pot hole, causing the van to suddenly dip, which in turn provoked both Eliot and Parker to wince as painful places were jostled.

"Sorry, Man. Whadayuh want me to do about it? I can't fix the state of the roads or nuthin'. I hack. I don't repair roads." The resident Hacker mumbled back.

"It's okay, Eliot. We will be fine as soon as we get back." The blonde thief smiled briefly.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the team to return to the safe haven of Leverage, Inc. Nate and Sophie grabbed their respective bags from the van and made quick work of unlocking the main doors and heading upstairs. Hardison opted to stay with his baby, Lucille, setting the van back to rights after their long con had left it in disarray.

Parker attempted to stand so that she could exit the back of the black van, but her knee gave out before she was ever able to fully put any weight on it, causing her to pitch forward and land hard on the offending joint. Hearing a pained exhalation, Eliot looked up suddenly to see the lithe blonde trying her best to not pass out. She was on her hands and knees towards the back of the vehicle. Her mouth was in a hard line, her eyes were closed as tight as they could be, and she was breathing deeply and slowly through flared nostrils.

With a sigh, Eliot climbed back into Lucille, bracing his ribs as he did with his right arm. When he reached Parker, who was still attempting to breathe all the air ever in one go, he crouched down resting his hand on her back and quietly admonished, "Parker, I told you to let me help you. Reinjuring an old wound is almost as bad as when you injured it the first time, if not worse. Let me help, Darlin'."

After waiting a few long moments, he saw her eyes slowly open and a small smile creep onto her face. In one quick move, she turned over; resting on her hands, her butt firmly on the floor with her injured leg straight before her, pointing towards the front of the van with her back to the double doors. He noticed the pain cross her features, but it was gone so fast he wondered if he had just imagined it. With the position she was in now, it would be much easier for him to get her out of the van without causing her additional injury. Without any further conversation, Eliot exited the van, turned back to face Parker and reached under her arms to drag her closer to the edge of the vehicle. When she was flush against him, he shifted his arms, placing one beneath her legs, and lifted before he could convince himself that this move was a bad idea with bruised or possibly broken ribs.

Thankfully, the skilled little thief weighed next to nothing, so the trip wasn't as painful as it could have been. Though, he was not looking forward to his options of the stairs or waiting on the elevator, holding onto this particular cargo. He was again very thankful when he reached the lifts, that Sophie was there waiting for them both to arrive. She beckoned him forward and as soon as he stepped foot into the compartment, Sophie released the "Door Hold" button and the doors immediately closed behind him. It was a quick trip up the one story and Eliot exited the elevator as soon as the bell chimed and the doors opened to release them. He hastily made his way directly to his bathroom, where he promptly placed Parker on the wooden chair left there for this purpose, before slowly sliding down the wall next to her.

He was taking slow and controlled breaths as fire raged in his chest from the exertion of physical labor accompanied by busted ribs. When he felt the pain was at a manageable level, he opened his eyes to see Parker staring right at him, looking concerned.

"You know I could have just limped with you as a crutch. You didn't need to prove anything by carrying me." She scolded.

"No, you could not have hobbled your way here without further injury, and I didn't want you to do any more damage to your knee than has already been done by that fall tonight. Are you sure there is nothing else bothering you, aside from your knee? Sometimes the intense pain of one injury masks a more serious pain of another. It'll be easier if you tell me now instead of me finding it later." He spoke quietly, but with conviction as he looked his friend in the eye.

He wanted to make sure she understood that she could not lie to him about her injuries, since he would be checking himself as soon as he caught his breath. This was their routine, a habit formed over long years of being the two very physical members of the team. As the Hitter, he took abuse with almost every con they pulled, fighting whatever bad guy got in the way of him and the safety of his friends.

As the thief, she was crawling in air ducts, jumping off buildings and landing on various hard surfaces constantly throughout a job. They had their fair share of injuries, and though both loners by nature, they had slowly started caring for each others ailments as soon as the mission was complete and they were back at the safe house.

Even when Parker and Hardison started dating, the routine never changed. Everyone understood that this was what the two needed to set everything right after a con. They needed to know that the other was cared for and not hiding any life threatening injuries, and it was too much of a hassle to stitch up yourself, when someone else could easily do it for you.

As the thief and hitter sat for a moment in the restroom, they each appraised the other for any obvious ailments. Parker noticed the laceration above Eliot's left eye and the bruises cropping up along his jaw. She also observed the way he held his right arm over his torso, bracing his ribs, which meant more bruising and possible rib injuries. She always checked for internal bleeding, since she knew he often took rather brutal beatings.

Eliot's gaze passed over Parker from head to toe. He knew of her knee injury already, but he wanted to make sure that that was the only problem she had. Falling from the height that she did could cause all sorts of issues. He would check her foot, ankle and hip when things got hands on, but for now, he would just do a look over. He didn't see any obvious injuries to her face, head or neck. Travelling further down, he took in both arms, which also looked to be in good condition. When his appraisal reached her hands however, he saw that there was blood coating her palms and fingers. He quickly reached up and took both hands gingerly in his and turned them over so that he could get a better look.

When she fell, and twisted her knee, she must have braced herself instinctually on her hands. Only she fell onto gravel, and at that speed she must have slid on her palms to have them as scrapped up as they now were. He wouldn't know how bad the damage was until he started cleaning the wounds out. Happy that he had a starting point, blood always trumps in these situations, he slowly stood up and moved to the well stocked medicine cabinet.

He pulled out a roll of gauze, a few gauze pads, the disinfectant, tweezers, and an analgesic, to numb the pain. He put the items on the low table by her chair and then turned to Parker softly saying, "I need to stand you up to wash your hands off at the sink. Just lean on me and not your leg, understand?"

"Yep. I'm ready." She chirped.

With that he leaned over and gripped her under the elbows to help pull her to her feet. When she steadied on the one leg, he carefully led her over to the sink where she braced herself against his left side, under his arm. He turned the tap on, allowed it to warm up and then pulled her hands out towards the running water.

"This is gonna sting, you know that, right?" His Southern drawl was soothing, he knew, but he wanted to warn her so she didn't jerk back and upset their precarious balance.

"Yeah, I'm aware, but you have to do it, I know." She gave him a quick smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

He then thrust her hands under the water, holding her at the wrists, as he let the liquid do its work for a moment on its own. He grabbed a washcloth from the stack on the counter for this very purpose, wet it and then very carefully started washing her torn hands, starting with her palms and ending the motion at the tips of each finger. To her credit, she didn't make a sound, only allowed the gentle, though painful, ministrations. When he was satisfied that both hands were fairly clean, he swiped two dry washcloths and placed one on each hand and went about drying them off as best he could.

Eliot led her back to the chair and pulled up the nearby stool so that he could work somewhat comfortably on her injuries. He grabbed the pair of tweezers, ready to pull out any fragments of gravel or dirt that may have been left behind, and carefully scrutinized every inch of her palms and fingers. He found a few small pieces and promptly pulled them out before he replaced the metal tool with the spray disinfectant. The hitter thoroughly sprayed her hands, wincing sympathetically at the pain he was causing. Eliot then gently rubbed the topical numbing agent into her broken skin, taking great care not to be too rough in his treatment, and then followed that with a gauze pad to each palm, which he efficiently wrapped with the roll of gauze to hold it all in place. Since none of her digits were damaged enough to require special attention, he left them free of the soft white fabric and moved on to her leg.

"Any numbness in your hip, leg or toes?" He gruffly questioned.

At her negative head shake, he probed at the bones and joints starting at her hip and working his way down to her toes. When he felt along her swollen knee, feeling the heat radiating from the joint, he heard her small intake of breath, knowing he was causing her more pain. He looked up at her and smiled a short but apologetic quirk of the lips before he looked back to her calf and continued his exploration for possible injuries. Finding no additional swelling or cause for alarm, he grabbed her spare brace from under the sink and moved to put it in place, when she stopped him with a small hand to his shoulder.

"I'm not going to be able to salvage these pants. There is no way I will be pulling these over that knee. Can you just cut the leg on this one to put the brace on? I can deal with the rest of the pants later."

"Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. Yeah, lemme grab my knife and I'll cut the pants leg off right above the brace." With that he reached behind his back and released the clasp holding his blade in place.

He slowly made an incision in the side of the pant leg, high on her thigh, and then made a small perpendicular cut near the inside seam. He placed the knife back in it's holster and using his fingers he ripped the pant leg all the way down the inside seam and then all the way around her thigh, pulling the large piece of fabric fully away from her leg and dropping it in the trash next to her. Eliot picked up the brace and gently placed it around her leg and cinched it in place at the closures.

"We'll grab some ice for this when we're done here. You know the drill." With that he snagged the bottle of Aleve from its place on the counter, opened it and dropped three pills into her hand. She promptly dry swallowed the pills and then looked at him expectantly until he sighed and slowly eased his shirt over his head before sitting back down on his stool.

She gave him a quick once over before asking with her eyes if there were any injuries she couldn't see. She would never let him live down the time he had torn ligaments in his ankle and not mentioned it; it had taken twice as long to heal. The deal was she wouldn't check if he would just be honest and inform her upfront.

"No, Sweetheart, there's nuthin' wrong with my legs. Just some bruised or broken ribs and the head wound." He flashed her a quick smile.

"Okay, well, I will need some butterfly bandages or the super glue, whichever you prefer and the elastic bandages for your ribs. Oh, and the salve for your jaw, that's going to bruise rather well if I don't get that on there soon." She fluttered a bandaged hand in the direction of their supplies, knowing he would have to fetch them this time.

He slowly stood and retrieved the requested items, placing them on the table next to her, and then reclaimed his seat in front of her. He knew she would be checking for internal injuries and braced himself for the painful onslaught. She didn't disappoint. Though she tried to be gentle, probing severely bruised areas were never fun, and always painful. She quickly nodded her head, satisfied that nothing was wrong, and then reached for the salve and bandages to wrap around his torso.

"You know you aren't supposed to wrap ribs anymore, right?" The blonde queried, looking into her friends eyes.

"I know, but I do what I have always done, and that is what I do. I tilt my head back for a bloody nose too. Old habits die hard, and all that. Just wrap em' up. I'll make sure I breathe deeply and sleep on my side tonight." He responded quietly.

She held the container of salve in the palm of her left hand and attempted to open the twist top bottle with her right, only to become annoyed when her injured fingers could not get the grip required. Eliot, seeing her struggle, stilled her frustrated motions with a calming hand and opened the offending container and set it back in her open palm.

Blowing her hair out of her face in what looked to be mild anger; she dipped her first two fingers in and scooped out a large glob of the thick substance, then promptly slathered it onto his chest and ribcage where a purplish hue was beginning to form.

He held his breath as she lightly ghosted over his injury, attempting to hold the pain at bay. He didn't know if that actually worked or not, but it made him feel better and as a bonus, with him being so still, Parker wouldn't accidentally press too hard, trying to match the natural movement of breathing. When she finished, she wiped her hand off on her remaining pants leg and then reached for the bandages, which she then proceeded to wrap around his torso. He lifted his arms to help the process, pulling at sore muscles and joints. His shoulder was starting to bother him again. He mentally made note to grab a few extra ice packs for himself when he grabbed Parker's. She finished the last loop around his chest and secured the bandage with a few clips. She double checked her work, making sure it wasn't too tight, and seemed satisfied.

"Um, any chance I can get you to wet a wash cloth for me? As hot as you can stand." The small blonde questioned on a yawn.

Eliot could tell she was getting tired; they had all had a long two weeks. Wanting to wrap this up and get to bed, he quickly stood and quietly moved over to the sink were he did as requested. He returned with the required item and handed it over to his thief-turned-medic friend, then settled once more onto his stool.

She swiped it from his hand and efficiently went about cleaning his face, starting with the 2 inch cut above his eyebrow, and ending under his chin. While she worked, she bit her lip in concentration, bringing a smile to Eliot's face. He wondered if that was the look she got cracking into a safe, or if lock-picking were so easy for her that she saved her Concentration Face for dealing with people, something that was infinitely more confusing for her.

It felt nice to have all the sweat and blood off his face, but he was ready to hit the hay. With that thought in mind, he quietly growled, "Are you almost done here?"

"Yeah, let me get the salve on your face and tape your _gaping head_ wound shut, then you'll be right as rain." She smirked.

"It's not gaping, Parker. It's barely a scratch." The brunette sighed.

"Uh huh, 'tis just a flesh wound, eh?" Parker joked, using her best British accent as she dabbed salve along his jaw line, leaning forward to better reach his face.

"You've gotta stop hanging out with Hardison, you're watching the wrong movies." He smiled.

She huffed her hair out of her face again and wiped the remaining medicine onto her pants leg. Parker opened the butterfly bandage and deftly put it in place, then sat back to admire her handiwork.

"All done! Now, some Aleve," she snagged the open bottle off the table and placed 3 pills in his open palm, "and then we are on to ice packs and sleep!"

His hand closed around the pain medicine, the strongest he would ever take, lifted them to his mouth, and dry swallowed, following her example. In one graceful motion, he stood up, leaned forward, and placed a swift kiss to the top of her head with a gruff, "Thanks, Darlin'. Now lemme go get your crutches and we can go get some ice for your knee."

With that, he quickly exited the restroom to retrieve her crutches. He was pretty sure they were kept in the closet, though it had been some time since she had last used them. Thankfully, he found them easily and made his way back to the restroom so the thief could go about her business, unimpeded and independent.

She gratefully accepted the hand he offered to help her out of the chair and was quickly on her feet with the crutches under arm, slowly making her way out of the temporary medic's tent, as it were. Eliot followed behind at a more sedate pace, the day's activities finally catching up to him. They found themselves in the kitchen, at the freezer, and the hitter snagged a few ice packs for Parker and a few for himself before heading to the comfortable couches in front of the large screen tv.

The hitter and thief both eased themselves down into the soft cushions next to each other, both letting out small sighs as they settled. He reached over and placed the large ice pack on top of her knee, propped up on the coffee table in front of her, and she in turn situated one on his shoulder and a larger one against his ribcage. The last one he had, he held up to his jaw, before deciding there was no way on earth he would be able to hold it there all night. He settled it on top of the one presently cooling his shoulder and leaned his head into it, resting his eyes. Parker snuggled into his good side before her eyes, too, closed of their own volition.

That was how Hardison found them a half hour later after cleaning Lucille. Grabbing the thick blanket off the back of the sofa, he gently spread it over the sleeping pair, careful not to disturb them, knowing the ice packs would keep them on the chilly side. Hardison didn't begrudge either of them the need to be close, understanding that they needed to be. Parker needed to know that she could count on the hitter to have her back in a dodgy situation and Eliot needed to know that he could always protect his thief of a little sister.

Hardison himself was reassured by their close relationship, because he needed to know that his best friend could keep the love of his life safe at any time. With a small smile, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss to the blonde's forehead. As he straightened back up brown eyes met icy blue, and with a squeeze to Eliot's good shoulder, the Hacker nodded briefly and watched as the blue eyes closed in peace once again, before heading off to bed himself, content in the team's safety.

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I hope you all enjoyed this. Let me know what you think; I love reviews. Please let me know if the characters acted the way you think they would. Let me know if you found any glaring errors or difficult to read sentences, etc.

For some reason, this is just how I see Parker and Eliot. They love it other, but it's not romantic; it's more than siblings, but less than romance! Sorry for the long note!

Thank you all for the reviews and the favs; they make me uncommonly happy! I try to respond to all reviews, but if it is an anon, then please know that I appreciate the time you take to review and love to hear your thoughts. Thanks again!

Sg


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